The Louvre: The World’s Greatest Museum

The Louvre: The World's Greatest Museum

Podcast Transcript Located in the heart of Paris, along the banks of the River Seine, lies the Louvre.  It has over 750,000 square feet of gallery space, over 615,000 items in its collection, and in a non-pandemic year, gets over 10 million annual visitors.  Yet, it wasn’t always a museum, and the way it acquired …

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The Navajo Code Talkers

The Navajo Code Talkers

Podcast Transcript Secrecy is a huge part of military success. You want to be able to communicate with your own forces without the enemy finding out what your plans are.  As America entered World War II, they were in need of a method of communication that couldn’t be cracked by Germany or Japan. They found …

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The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge

Podcast Transcript Brooklyn wasn’t always a part of New York City. It used to be a separate city located across the East River from New York, which at the time was only on the island of Manhattan.  For decades, people talked about a bridge to connect New York and the growing city of Brooklyn to …

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Which Came First: Beer or Bread?

Which Came First: Beer or Bread?

Podcast Transcript The rise of agriculture has been pointed to as being responsible for the rise of civilization as we know it.  However, that raises the question, what was responsible for the rise of agriculture? In particular, at least in the Middle East with the cultivation of grain, the debate has always been which came …

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The Ancient City of Alexandria

The Ancient City of Alexandria

Podcast Transcript In the year 331 BC, fresh from his conquest of Egypt, Alexander the Great established a new city in Egypt named after himself.  This new city, situated on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at the end of the Nile Delta, would go on to become one of the most important cities in …

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The Truth About Pirates

The Truth About Pirates

Podcast Transcript Ahoy ye mates! It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  So I be thinking tis time to talk about the pirate life and how much of the legends of the pirates be true. Did they bury their gold? Did they fly the Jolly Roger?  Did their dogs have scurvy? …and did they …

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The Ride of Sybil Ludington

The Ride of Sybil Ludington

Podcast Transcript It is the American Revolutionary War. A rider on horseback sets out on an all-night ride to warn the militia of nearby towns that the British were coming. I am of course talking about the ride of Paul Revere, right? Nope. I’m talking about the ride of Sybil Luddington.  Learn more about Sybil …

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Behold! The Potato

Behold! The Potato

Podcast Transcript What did the first Chinese Emperor Qin, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Gengis Kahn, the Queen of Sheba, and all their contemporaries who lived when they did have in common?  None of them ever ate a potato.  The potato is a rather new addition to the diets of the old world, and one …

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Khalid Ibn al-Walid: The Sword of God

Khalid Ibn al-Walid: The Sword of God

Podcast Transcript In the 7th century, the world saw the rise of one of the most important religious and political forces in history: Islam. Springing forth from the Arabian Peninsula, within a matter of years, the Islamic Caliphate had become one of the largest empires on Earth.  Much of that growth was due to one …

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